1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the lawn mower art, and more particularly to a novel and improved lawn mower employing flexible filament cutter elements. The invention is specifically concerned with a lawn mower having a plurality of flexible filament cutter elements mounted on a detachable continuous carrier belt for movement around a semi-circular front end of a mower frame.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known in the lawn mower art to employ flexible filament cutter elements on mowers having a single rotary mounting member and used for cutting weeds, and on a rotary member for use as a lawn trimming device. Examples of such prior art mowers employing flexible filament cutter elements are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,826,068; 3,831,278; 3,859,776; 4,065,913; 4,077,191; 4,134,204, and 4,137,694. It is also well known to mount metal cutter elements on a continuous belt as shown in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,543,368; 2,728,181; 2,744,376; 2,782,582; 2,867,069; 3,043,079; 3,488,931; 3,699,757; and, 3,831,358.
A disadvantage of the prior art lawn mowers employing filament type cutter elements is that they are complex and expensive to make, and their filament cutter elements are subject to excessive breakage. The filament cutter element breakage problems of such prior art mowers is caused partly by the wear of the filament cutter elements at the tips thereof, and at the point where they extend from the spindle on the filament storage apparatus. The prior art filament cutter elements weaken at the last mentioned point where it leaves the storage spindle, due to flexing and pressure, and breakage occurs at that point which results in much down time of the mower in adjusting the storage spindle to extend a new portion of the filament to the cutting position, and such action also results in excessive usage of filament. A further disadvantage of the prior art filament cutter type mowers is that they are not constructed and arranged so that the mower can be moved adjacent a foundation or the like for cutting grass and vegetation adjacent the foundation and around objects such as trees and the like, due to the construction of the frame holding the filament cutter elements.